


Hold the Pause

by baeberiibungh



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire, Alternate Universe - No Werewolves, Aro!Derek, F/M, FWB, Gen, M/M, aro characters, aro!Stiles, everyone is human
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-29 00:57:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6352504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baeberiibungh/pseuds/baeberiibungh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was perhaps strange, how they both matched each other so …</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hold the Pause

So, see, the break up was amicable, it was mutual, it was very much needed at the time. Stiles was going to college and Derek was already in one and things just got too messy for them to hold on. They still liked each other, but the relationship was no longer a thing they enjoyed. For all the communication they had, it could be best described as friends with benefits when home and only friends when not. They had a general inkling of what the life of the other was at any given moment, maybe not the names of the girlfriend or boyfriend of the week, but definitely the general gist of it.

Stiles, removed from the place he grew up and the worries that have been attached to him found himself breathing in lighter air. It was not like he didn’t worry less, but being away and not seeing the immediate results as well as the awareness of what was going at home lessened, made him not get all paranoid over his family and friends. He still diligently called his father once a day, messaged Scott three or four times a day and Skype him as well as Lydia, Malia, Kira and Derek. He made new friends and learned how to have fun, how to not be bummed about not being the most popular, and simply to enjoy.

Derek, in the meantime, got a girlfriend, who was in a somewhat similar situation. She was not looking long term and already had someone to go back to. So, the regular sessions of calling Stiles remained unvaried. They did break up, but they never broke off, and everytime they went home, they got into the habit of hooking up so much that the sheriff as well as Scott gave up on shouting at them whenever they came upon the couple naked. For both their family and friends, it was a foregone conclusion that both would inevitably end up together someday soon.

Except that they didn’t. Not really. They finished their education, by some stroke of luck got jobs in their hometown and came back, and instead of getting together, both continued to play the field. One would act as the other’s wingman if required and then sometimes just fall into their old routine of sleeping together. It never went anything beyond that, there was no attempt to date, or be in a relationship. They were very much ok with what they had and could not find what the big deal was in continuing with it.

Scott, being the well meaning friend he is, called the both of them and tried to engage in a ‘talk’ with them about their ‘situation’. Stiles and Derek laughed for the first five minutes because they thought that Scott was joking. When it dawned on them that Scott was being serious, Stiles became furious while Derek seethed. It was one hell of a fight between Stiles and Scott, a thing of incredible rarity, and followed with the two weeks post fight when he didn’t talk with Scott or even looked at him, Scott just about fell all over himself to ask forgiveness. 

Since Stiles was missing his friend as well, he gave in and after many smooshy hugs after, where eyes may or may not have been wet at times, Stiles told Scott not to worry. Derek was not going to break his heart nor was Stiles going to attempt to do anything. They were meticulously safe when it came to having sex and got tested regularly. Whatever it was between Stiles and Derek, Stiles told Scott, was good and something they had invested their trust and faith in, but they felt no need to become a couple per se. 

Seeing how Stiles was confident about his heart, and having gotten a similar kind of answer from Derek, who he had gone to when Stiles stopped talking with him, Scott stopped worrying about them. It was obviously a thing that worked, worked well for them and so long both were happy, Scott did not quite have the need to hound for them to make him understand. Maybe he will get it someday, and maybe he won’t, that was not the most important part. That both were happy was more so.

As for Stiles and Derek, they never quite had any serious talk between them, giving points of reference to matters to be discussed labeled in a numbered list. The first time Stiles kissed someone else than Derek while they were still dating in school, Stiles came told Derek. Derek asked, “Did you like it?” Stiles nodded. “Good,” Derek said and kissed him. When Derek went and had a threesome with two beautiful transfer students, Derek too told Stiles and Stiles just cuddled up to him to watch a movie marathon.

It was perhaps strange, how they both matched each other so. There was no need or requirement for monogamy between them, they didn’t even felt the need to be in a committed and thus established relationship. Maybe someday in the future, they will move in together like roommates, and bring dates over or just have fun, have a more concentrated circle of life choices, get more of the familiarity that exists between the two, like how Stiles knows Derek likes being fucked from behind and how Derek knows all of Stiles’ coffee preferences in a descending order, just because one drunk Stiles told him all that, that would be an awesome life to fall into on some future date.

But that is for some distant future. Now, being friends who will always be there for him and who does not carry a butt load of expectations out of them it is refreshing. Sure, they see their parents and siblings and friends and can see what is _their_ preferences are, but those are not necessarily theirs and so once their friends, mostly Scott stops being unknowingly judgmental about it, their life goes on smooth, it goes on good. It’s not everyday after all when you end up with your perfect and precise soulmate, who is so exactly like you that it’s amazing and with whom life always seem at its best.

**Author's Note:**

> Not quite feeling this one, but I am in a slump. Unbetaed. thanks for reading. Kudos and/or comments please :)


End file.
